Forest Sustainability

Coastal Cedar Direct cares about sustainability and our environment. When comparing building materials, Red Wood Cedar is ranked amongst the highest from various institutions and studies as being the greenest and most sustainable building material available. Please review the following statistics on wood versus other building materials:

Wood surpasses steel and concrete in the following categories:

Energy use

Resource use

Pollution

Environment impact

Green Building

Energy Use

Wood products require much less energy to produce than concrete or steel. An independent comparison of the energy needed to obtain, manufacture, transport and install building materials for identical wood frame, steel frame and concrete houses proves wood’s environmental superiority over alternative materials. The result is more fossil fuels saved with less air and water pollution.

Stat: Although wood products make up 47% of all raw materials manufactured in the United States, its share of energy consumption during manufacturing is only 4%.

Stat: Results show that the manufacture of wood materials use 53% less energy than steel and 120% less energy than concrete.

Resource Use

As the world’s only renewable building material, wood can not only be recycled, but regenerated as well.

Stat: North American Forests have grown 20% since 1970.

Pollution

Wood product manufacturing produces far fewer greenhouse gases.

Environmental Impact

Wood has the lowest impact on air and water quality. This is especially true when compared to the manufacture of recycled steel. Forest regeneration also creates more trees which benefit the environment while they grow, taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.

Read more in the article below:

BC – Global Leader in forest management

An independent study* comparing international forest practice regulations in 38 jurisdictions found that British Columbia has some of the most stringent forest sustainability requirements in the world. For example:

– A fraction of one per cent of British Columbia’s forested land is harvested each year. As in the rest of Canada, areas that are logged must be promptly regenerated.
– With the exception of all of Canada, BC has more forestland protected from harvesting than any other jurisdiction.
– Deforestation in developing countries accounts for approximately 18 per cent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions or almost eight billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. Canada has 91 per cent of its original forest cover, more than any other country, and its rate of deforestation has been virtually zero for more than 20 years. In British Columbia, 98 percent of the land base has never been converted from its pre-settlement state for uses such as farmland and urban development, but instead remains as forest, grassland and other natural areas.

At 95 million hectares, BC is larger than any European country except Russia, about four times the size of the United Kingdom and larger than the combined areas of Washington, Oregon and California states. About two-thirds of the province is forested, which means we play an important role in mitigating climate change through sustainable forest practices. Healthy, sustainably managed forests are a necessary prerequisite to ensuring maximum absorption of carbon dioxide, minimal greenhouse gas emissions and the long-term storage of carbon in wood products.

*The study, “Global Environmental Forest Policies: Canada as a Constant Case Comparison of Select Forest Practice Regulations,” was conducted by Dr. Benjamin Cashore, a professor at Yale University, at the request of Forestry Innovation Investment and the Forest Products Association of Canada. The 450-page report can be viewed here, or the summary report here (PDF).